On Sunday, Facebook whistleblower, Frances Haugen accused the social media giant of repeatedly prioritizing profit over preventing hate speech and misinformation, therefore, her lawyers have registered at least eight complaints with the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).
Frances Haugen has served as a product manager on the civic misinformation team at Facebook, appeared on Sunday on the CBS television program “60 Minutes,” unveiling her identity as the whistleblower who presented the records that justifies a Wall Street Journal investigation and a Senate hearing on Instagram’s harm to teen girls and the lack of curbing hate speech.
It Appears Facebook did Not Take Any Steps to Decrease Vaccine Hesitancy
Furthermore, Facebook has been under scrutiny after WSJ issued a series of stories based on Facebook’s private presentations and emails that explained that the social media corporation contributed to increased polarization online when it made modifications to its content algorithm. The company failed to take steps to decrease vaccine hesitancy and was informed that Instagram injured the mental health of teenage girls.
Facebook Prioritizes Making Money Over Clamping Down Hate Speech
“There were conflicts of interest between what was good for the public and what was good for Facebook,” Frances Haugen said during the interview. “And Facebook over and over again chose to optimize for its interests like making more money.” Haugen, who previously worked at Google and Pinterest, stated that Facebook has lied to the public about the improvement it made to curb hate speech and misinformation on its platform.
Read more: Facebook Now Allows Cross-App Group Chats Between Messenger and Instagram
Facebook whistleblower, Frances Haugen further continued that Facebook was used to help organize the Capitol riot on January 6, after the firm turned off safety systems following the US presidential elections. While she considered no one at Facebook was “malevolent,” she said the firm had misaligned incentives. Facebook issued a statement contradicting the points that Haugen made after the televised interview.
Facebook Denies the Allegations Made by the Facebook Whistleblower Frances Haugen
“We continue to make significant improvements to tackle the spread of misinformation and harmful content,” said Facebook spokesperson Lena Pietsch. “To suggest we encourage bad content and hate speech, and do nothing is just not true.” Ahead of the 60 Minutes interview, Facebook Vice President of global affairs Nick Clegg said on CNN it was “ridiculous” to declare that Jan. 6 occurred because of social media giant.
In the end, Facebook whistleblower, Frances Haugen said that she wants to help fix Facebook, not see it taken down. “The path forward is about transparency and governance,” she said in the video. “It’s not about breaking up Facebook.” Haugen is set to testify in Congress about concerns circling Facebook’s impact on young users on Tuesday, December 5th.
Source: WSJ
